"Something like this could really knock patient confidence and the hospital needs to carry out a thorough investigation very quickly."

The Conservative city councillor for Edgbaston, who also chairs the council's health scrutiny committee, added: " Having an operation is a traumatic experience when patients are at their most vulnerable.

"The public must have 100 per cent confidence that the hospital is doing their best for them but if someone has been caught sleeping on the job it is totally appalling.

"We need reassurance that this will be dealt with properly and not pushed under the carpet."

An anaesthetist is in charge of putting patients to sleep before operations.

He or she must stay alert to monitor the patient's vital life signs and chemicals being pumped into the body to induce sleep.

A mistake could lead to terrible consequences for a patient including death.

The Evening Mail's source said: "The consultant's work colleagues took a photograph of him sleeping and it got passed on to people at the top.

"He has been suspended on full pay while the trust investigates but the trust is so worried about this and really didn't want it getting out in the open."